In the first ceremony, on Saturday, June 4, 33 priests were ordained. The other 37 priests were ordained the following day, June 5, the Solemnity of Pentecost.
Photo: Twitter @cardenalrobles.
Mexico – Guadalajara (06/06/2022 12:36, Gaudium Press) This weekend, the Mexican Archdiocese of Guadalajara ordained a total of 70 new priests. The ordinations took place in two ceremonies presided over by the local Archbishop, Cardinal Jose Francisco Robles Ortega, at the Shrine of the Mexican Martyrs.
Two ordination ceremonies
In the first ceremony, on Saturday, June 4, 33 priests were ordained. The other 37 priests were ordained the following day, June 5, the Solemnity of Pentecost. In his homily, the Cardinal reminded the newly ordained priests that they do not serve the world but God and that the Holy Spirit has chosen them to care for the flock of Jesus Christ.
“It is not their flock and not even our flock, but the flock of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which is entrusted to them as of today, by the choice and the anointing of the Holy Spirit,” Cardinal Robles stressed.
Priests must remember their origins
Stressing that priests must not forget their origins, the Archbishop of Guadalajara emphasized that “the priest is not an angel, he is not an alien, he is not a superior being, he does not belong to a foreign caste. The priest is a man, chosen by God, taken by God from among his brothers, men.”
“When the priest forgets his origin, he establishes a distance between himself and the community he is destined to serve, giving a message that he is superior and must be recognized and served. When the priest takes this attitude of superiority, he finds himself involved in this evil that unfortunately affects the Church: clericalism,” he lamented.
Priests must serve men in the things of God
The Cardinal further stated that priests must serve men in the things that are of God, and “this is what the people expect from the priest: a man of God, a man who speaks of God, a man who is the presence of God among them, to experience his mercy, to experience his salvation.”
“The priest is taken among men and put at the service of men, but not at the service of the world. Not at the service of the world, not with the criteria of the world. The world can enter into our hearts, into our minds, into our person, into our priesthood, and can make us its own and forget that we are of God, for the service of the brothers in the things that are of God,” he concluded. (EPC)
Compiled by Gustavo Kralj
